1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for generating hydrogen-oxygen gas by electrolysis, and relates in particular to an hydrogen-oxygen gas generator and hydrogen-oxygen gas generating method for generating hydrogen gas and oxygen gas with high efficiency and collecting the hydrogen and oxygen gas separately or as a gas mixture to generate a gas with a high flame temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrolysis or electrolytic technology was pioneered by the scientist Faraday. The electrolysis of water is known to produce hydrogen-oxygen gas in a ratio of two parts hydrogen to one part oxygen. Research on hydrogen-oxygen gas has continued up to the present time. One example of a practical technology is a gas generating apparatus developed by Dr. Yull Brown of Brown Energy System Technology PTY. LTD. of Australia. A patent document relating to this technology is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration 3037633.
In this technology, the structure of the electrolytic cell for generating the hydrogen-oxygen gas is comprised of multiple electrode plates formed with mutually perpendicular electrolytic fluid flow holes and gas flow holes at the top and bottom in the center, and formed with bolt holes on four sides; multiple alternately coupled spacers formed with bolt housing holes protruding outwards between the electrode plates, and O-rings inserted on the spacer inner circumferential surface for sealing the filled electrolytic fluid; and electrolytic cell cover plates holding electrical current conducting bolts and gas coupling nipples and electrolytic fluid coupling nipples are mounted on both sides of the electrode plates, and an electrode plate tightened by nuts to a stay bolt enclosed by bolt holes of the electrolytic cell cover plates and spacer bolt housing holes, electrode plate bolt holes, with the spacer and electrolytic cell cover plates mutually joined together. However, no method up until now has succeeded in generating a gas mixture of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas for industrial use.
A patent document relating to a gas generator device was disclosed in Japanese patent No. 3130014.
However, in this method of the related art, the shortest possible distance between the adjacent electrode plates within this kind of electrolytic cell was a gap of 50 millimeters just sufficient to prevent electrical shorts. An even shorter distance between electrode plates tended to cause accidents due to excessive current flow. The efficiency of the apparatus and method of the related art was therefore limited when producing hydrogen-oxygen gas by increasing the electrical current density. The related art therefore had the problem that it could not generate gas with high efficiency. The related art also could not provide an adequate mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, creating the danger of the gas igniting and was not therefore suited for producing gas in large quantities.
On the other hand, since the size of each electrolytic cell was limited, the amount of hydrogen-oxygen gas produced by one hydrogen-oxygen gas generator was also limited. To meet practical needs, preferably a device with as small a size as possible, preferably produces as much hydrogen-oxygen gas as possible per unit of time. However, the apparatus of the related art could not satisfy the dual needs of both a compact size and generation of larger amounts of hydrogen-oxygen gas.
In the method for electrolyzing water disclosed in international patent W095/06144 on the other hand, an electrode inserted in the water is vibrated at a characteristic oscillation to resonate with any or any one of the oxygen molecules, hydrogen molecules or water molecules. More specifically, the electrode is vibrated at 6,000 to 120,000 times per minute (100 to 200 times per second). In an alternative method for electrolyzing water, the electrode may be vibrated at a harmonic or multiple of the characteristic frequency, and the magnetic pole magnetized in a magnetic field.
Whereupon, the present invention provides a device and method for generating hydrogen gas and oxygen gas with high efficiency and collecting the hydrogen and oxygen gas separately or as a gas mixture to generate a gas with a high flame temperature by improving the electrolysis conditions to increase the amount of hydrogen gas or oxygen gas generated per electrode surface area per unit of time, and with a more compact device produce higher quantities of hydrogen-oxygen gas per device (in other words, per unit of surface area of the electrolyte cell), and collect these gases separately or as a gas mixture, to allow generating a mixture of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas with a high flame temperature when combustion is safe, and generate hydrogen gas and oxygen gas separately with high efficiency by using film separation.